Bismillāhi Raḥmāni Raḥīm
Date: 26th Muharram, 1442 A H / 13th September, 2020
Subject: Al-Farā’id (The Islamic Law of Inheritance)
Lesson: 85
Topic: Inheritance of Spouses under Islamic Law
Sub-Topic: Qur’anic Legislation on Spouse Inheritance (Lesson 1)

Dear Participants,
Today, Inshā’ Allāh, we are commencing a discussion on the Sharī‘ah legislation on the inheritance procedures of spouses (Husbands and Wives) as enshrined under Islamic law of inheritance and the intrigues of what Muslims faced today in the area of inheritance. We intend to look at the validation of Nikkāh as the basic tool that legalizes inheritance between the spouses, the intrigues of inheriting spouses who are non-Muslims, the limitation of spouses’ inheritance power because of non-blood relation as upheld by Sharī‘ah and so on.
To start with, we as Muslims must know that Nikkāh, that is marriage is a sacred institution sanction by Allah (See Q4:3-5). Its sanctity is religious and rewardable in the sight of Allah in order to eschew mankind from fornication and adultery, legalize mutual cohabitation and procreation and sanction the process of inheriting one another. Thus once a Nikkāh is religiously concluded according to laid down rules of Islam, the husband and wife are legitimate to inherit one another while their legal shares had been sanctioned and specified by Allah himself in the Holy Qur’an. He the Most Exalted said: “In that which your wives leave, your share is a half if they had no child; but if they had leave a child, you get a fourth of that which they leave after payment of legacies they may have bequeathed or debts. In that which you leave, their (Your wives) share is a fourth if you leave no child; but if you leave a child, they get an eight of that which you leave after payment of legacies they may have bequeathed or debts……..” (Q4:12).
As Muslims, the above quoted verse is explicit enough to understand the legitimacy and the shares of spouses without any rancor but alas, the situation in our contemporary world is different. The Muslim couples have found themselves in myriad of problems because of difference in religion, usurpation of all properties by one spouse or the other at the detriment of other legal heirs, barricading of wives from their legal shares by the husband’s family and so on.

Inshā’ Allāh, all the above scenario and imbroglios shall be discussed from our next class.
Jazākumullāhu Khayran for reading today’s lesson.
Yours in Islām
©Busari Muhammad Jamiu (Abū ‘Ᾱishah)
The Founder/Instructor
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